Broken Computers and Torn Flesh
by Artemis08Luna
Summary: Joe thinks Kara has a crush on Barry but doesn't know what to do about it so she keeps breaking her computer just to talk to Barry. Iris thinks Oliver has a crush on Barry but doesn't know what to do about it so he keeps getting injured on the job just to talk to Barry. So... who's right?


Joe wasn't really above thinking thugs deserve death sentences for just being the punks they are; in the hierarchy of command or order, he was nothing but an enforcer. _But_ if he were given a choice, he'd put down Snart once and for all. He's so tired of being burdened with catching the bastard, only for him to escape a few hours later for him to have another robbery in a few weeks or so.

Thank god for Barry though.

His son is a quick study. Having just graduated a few months ago and rapidly being recruited into the CSI department due to his impressive transcript and one hell of a first impression when he first interned in their precinct first week of his graduating year, Barry had been able to catch on to Leonard's mind fast and learn the way he thinks. Thanks to him, Joe and his partner had been able to apprehend Snart and his goons on their latest heist an hour before they could even have a chance of looking at Central City Museum.

Unfortunately, he's still just a CSI — worse, just an _assistant_ CSI — so it's one heck of a job to have caught onto Snart's plans but it's outside of his jurisdiction whatever the hell happens to him in prison.

If only Barry's just as gifted as he is with his TOX reports as he is building an escape-proof cell that even Snart can't break out of. But God only gives so much talent in one human, right?

He knocks on the door to Barry's lab to announce his intrusion and steps inside. The extra person he finds at his son's side isn't much of a surprise to see.

"Hey, Bar." He dips his head in acknowledgment at the company. "Kara."

Barry looks up from his desk where he's hunched over Kara's computer. His smile spreads wide over his face, bright and animated. Kara's own grin is almost identical to the young CSI's albeit more reserved.

"Hey, Joe!" Barry says as he springs to his feet to greet his foster father with a hug. They'd last seen each other just this morning over breakfast in the West household with his other son, and yet Barry still receives him as if they haven't seen each other in a week, and he loves how at least one of his kids isn't ashamed of their old man; screw genetics, Barry's his kid.

"Hello, Detective West," the young reporter says politely as she gives Joe a handshake.

Joe shakes his head as he warmly takes the handshake, feeling the tension in her palm and the tremble in her fingers. "Joe, please, Kara. I've told you so many times."

There's a light blush that spreads over her nose, she adjusts her glasses that had slipped down. "R-Right. Joe."

"Why are you here?" Barry asks him, furrowed eyebrows and all but not displeased at his sudden visit. They work together under the same roof, but he doesn't always come up here (Well, in the beginning he did, just to check up on him, but that didn't end well: Barry had exploded on him that he didn't need a babysitter and Iris had angrily told him that Barry's all grown up, projecting her own anger at him for checking on her very frequently as well; Wally mostly had his nose in his textbooks getting ready for exams but, once, over breakfast, he did say that Barry can hold out on his own just fine).

Joe sighs as he massages his temples with his thumb and forefinger. "Snart and Rory escaped."

Barry rubs at his face, obviously just as tired as he is when it comes to Leonard Snart. "Of course they did. I'll start tracking them right away." Then, he addresses Kara. "Your laptop's good to go."

"Really?" Kara asks, but he doesn't miss the bit of non-surprise that colors her tone that it makes him raise a brow. Luckily, none of the two notice his reaction.

"Yep! Just try not to overload the thing again. That thing's older than Joe—"

"Hey! Don't talk about your old man like that."

Barry snickers but ignores his comment. "And stop clicking on random things on the internet! Really, Kara, this is like internet one-oh-one."

Kara ducks her head as she packs her computer into her messenger bag. "I-I got it. Thanks again, Barry." She stands on her toes as she drops a chaste kiss on Barry's cheek and a quick nod of farewell to Joe before hurrying off.

Joe's thumb thrusts to the direction where Kara ran off. "Is that the fourth time?" He asks. Kara's been in this lab probably more times than him in the last year, all to assist her in the technological aspect of her computer-related troubles. And while Barry's quite gifted with electronics, his skills still pale in comparison to the precinct's employees in the crybercrimes division (namely Winn, Cisco and Felicity, who he knows for a fact are good friends with Kara and would be able to fix her problem-riddled computer in one go).

"Sixth, actually," Barry says, "this _month_. At this point, she's better off buying a new laptop."

Under his breath, Joe says, "Maybe she doesn't want to."

"What?" Barry says, eyes snapping to his father questioningly.

He shakes his head. "Nothin'."

He loves his son truly. He'd die for him just as he would for his daughter and other son, but it's Barry's oblivious stupidity that sometimes makes him want to smack him upside the head.

* * *

Iris West is on a mission to hunt Barry down. She'd already caught her other brother in the early hours of the morning, just before he had the chance of getting to campus, and tell him about her plans of stealing the both of them for lunch so they could all hang out.

 _"We haven't properly had a West sibling outing in a month."_

 _"Hey,_ you _moved out and isn't Barry technically an Allen? Hey— ow!"_

 _"You, me, Barry, CC Museum, one o'clock."_

 _"I can't. My Japanese class starts—"  
_

 _"Are you kidding me?"_

 _"Well, no but—"_

 _"Wally."_

 _"Okay, fine! I'll skip it. You and Barry better help me with it. Writing Japanese is harder than you think."_

So yeah, all she has to do now is find Barry and drag him out in the next fifteen minutes or so. She'd already smooth things over with Captain Singh, who actually didn't need a lot of coercing to allow the young CSI to leave early; he's seen the dedication Barry has to his job. He's already told both him and Joe that he doesn't have to be in his crime lab all the time; he's doing such a good job that even his superior, CSI Julian Albert, is impressed and that alone is a feat of its own.

"Hey, Bar," she hollers out, fishing out her phone in her pocket when it beeps as she steps into his lab. "You, me and Wally are gonna have some much needed sister-brothers time." It's Wally that texted her, telling her he's already en route to the museum.

A pained grunt from inside the lab makes her look away from her phone and what greets her makes her a little nauseous.

"Are you kidding me?" She demands as she quickly sidesteps to the nearest pole to steady herself.

Right there on one of Barry's desks, usually cluttered with an array of case files, test tube racks and fast food ( _"Isn't that just a tad unsanitary?" "Yeah, but I'm hungry." "You pig."_ ), lays one Detective Oliver Queen, bloodied.

"Oh hey, Iris," Barry says casually without looking up from his handiwork of stitching Oliver's torn side.

"Iris," Oliver says in greeting through gritted teeth.

"Is this just how I'm going to meet you now every time?" She says, grossed out by the blood and the bit of open flesh she can see but unable to tear her eyes away; she's slightly morbidly fascinated. Blame her geek brothers. "I've seen you shirtless dozens of times and _none_ of them are what I pictured."

"Aren't you engaged?" Oliver says, almost sounding amused.

"Happily," she counters. "But I'm not blind."

" _Iris_ ," Barry emphasizes her name in a poor attempt to divert the subject, "you were saying something about the, um, bonding?"

Iris lets her brother have his way and allows the subject to be changed. "Yeah. We were _supposed_ to go to the museum today—"

"We are?"

"I booked us tickets—"

"For what?"

"The opening to the science exhibit—"

"Wait that's _today?_ "

"Yeah—"

" _Oh my god that's today_ —"

"Ow!" Oliver doubles over in pain, and the jerky movement makes the pain worse.

"Oh god, sorry." But Barry keeps his hands steady. "Are you really sure you don't—"

"No. I trust you. Just... tone down the excitement a little."

Iris watches in silence, trying to decipher the meaning behind what they're talking about. It's not until a few seconds later she realizes the gravity of the situation.

"Wait, have you been stitching him without any anesthetic?"

All this time, never did she think Oliver was sensitive to pain — she'd seen him have an open fracture after saving two kids — she just assumed Barry's just that horrible at sutures.

"Yep," Barry says. He gives her a look that clearly tells her he'll attempt to explain later so she takes the one-worded answer for now.

"All right," she says, rocking on her heels, feeling a bit awkward. This isn't usually her, awkward's more of Barry's thing; she commonly drips confidence. "So... I'll just go cancel—"

"No!" It isn't Barry that says it but Oliver. He lets his head loll to the side so he can pierce Iris with one of his signature stare, just a lot less heated than usual. "You will not cancel. You'll have your sibling bonding time, Barry's almost done."

"I am?"

Oliver doesn't answer and mouths something indistinguishable that Iris can't read.

Barry nods frantically and regards Iris. "I am, yeah. Just give me five minutes tops."

"Three," Oliver corrects.

"Three minutes tops."

Iris nods in a way that stresses her uncertainty. "Okay," she says, although it ends up sounding like a question. She just steps out of the room. Screw the bus, she's calling a cab.

While she may be unsure what just happened, she _is_ sure that her brother is an idiot when it comes to Oliver Queen. She just doesn't understand why her father thinks her co-worker, investigative reporter Kara Danvers, is who Barry's in love with when clearly he has the hots for Detective Oliver Queen.

If she didn't know any better, she'd say Oliver was purposefully getting hurt on the job so her brother could stitch him back up just so he has an excuse to see him.

* * *

Two days later, Joe meets Iris at the bottom of the stairs after just coming from Barry's lab for their weekly mandatory family lunch, which Iris insists on having (and Joe loves how his boys never even protested once and instead agree).

"Hey, baby," he says as he tucks her under his arm and kisses the side of her head.

"Hey, dad. Wally says he'll meet us there. Barry?"

He shakes his head. "He can't. With Julian on his leave of absence, he's swamped with a lot of work."

She shrugs. "Well, if I know Barry, he can handle it and finish in a flash."

"I know, which is why I told him he's free to come with once he's done."

She smiles in satisfaction knowing that at least Barry will try and make it despite his mountain of work. Just as they're about to make a step towards the elevator, a sight before them makes them stop dead in their tracks.

Detective Oliver Queen and reporter Kara Danvers are currently stuck together in an embrace before giving each other a quick yet obviously passionate kiss on the lips. With the father and daughter being a detective and reporter themselves respectively, being observant is a requirement in their fields of work so they don't miss critical details, for example: the rings on each other's hands.

On each other's _left ring fingers_ to be precise.

"Oh boy," they both say under their breath.

* * *

Barry is pleasantly surprised to see Iris for dinner in the West household. The _un_ pleasant part of the surprise are the twin looks of concern on her and their father's faces.

"Where's Wally?" He asks instead to help diffuse the tension and help him gauge whatever it is he's done now. Of course he knows where Wally is; he's got his little brother's schedule down to a tee. Having been exposed to the extent of what what murderers are capable of makes him just a little more relieved knowing where he is.

"Night classes," Iris answers in a monotone voice. "Barry, sit."

He's scared to, but he's even more scared to find out if he doesn't. He _knows_ Iris and he knows what she's capable of when she gets angry. He'd spent his teens growing up one bedroom across from hers, so he's seen every kind of tantrum and they're all quite horrifying.

He does so, cautiously. He puts his bag down on the floor and angles his body to be facing them.

"So," he starts, feeling as if he's gonna melt from their gazes. "What's going on?"

"Uh," Joe mumbles and gives Iris a pointed look.

Iris gives a perceptive nod and initiates whatever thing they need to talk about. "Barry."

"Mhm?"

"What— Do you— Um... Are you—"

Iris' unintelligible blabbering gets effectively cut off by the simultaneous ringing of both his and Joe's phone.

Barry's eyes widen at the urgency of the text message.

He's already running out the house when he hollers at his family, "Gimme my keys!"

"You ain't got no car, Bar!" Joe yells back, grabbing his coat. "You're riding with me! C'mon, Iris."

* * *

By the way Barry exits Joe's squad car, Iris is mildly astonished Barry's usual lack of coordination doesn't make an appearance as he speeds his way into the hospital. She and Joe are just barely able to get through the doors when the elevator close with Barry inside, erratically combing his fingers through his hair.

Iris punches the up button for another elevator. She feels jumpy; she's worried for her co-worker, but clearly not as much as Barry is. "I've never seen him worried like this," she comments. "Not since—"

"Since Wally's last stunt," Joe says.

Iris agrees. The elevator dings and they both step inside.

The tension in the confined space is palpable.

Kara is a sweet and thoughtful young woman who is as selfless as she is brave and hides behind a demeanor of shy while also maintaining a reputation of giving a mean right hook if you mess with any of her friends. Iris knows this from working closely with her every day at the CCPN, and Joe is aware of this too from the handful of times he'd seen her at Barry's lab.

Oliver, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of that girl, tough exterior and all, and doesn't take any of anyone's BS. His terrifying aim is just as accurate as his combat fighting; you don't mess with him or anyone innocent.

They're both good people so Iris and Joe don't understand for the life of them why good people would lead people on like that, especially someone like Barry.

Iris is already planning on possibly slapping Oliver and sending glares at Kara. Joe wants to be furious at his partner and Iris' friend doing that to his son, but he can't. Not right now. He needs to see the two physically okay, if not completely, and then he can unleash his wrath.

The double doors slide open to the correct floor and navigate the hallway for the correct room.

Once they hunt down the right door, they are about to enter when they can hear yelling inside.

" _No!_ Dammit, Kara!" It's Barry's voice in a tone they've never heard before. "Don't encourage him!"

There's other noises too, which Iris quickly identifies as Kara crying softly and Oliver grunting in pain.

"Joe _has_ a car!" Comes Oliver's response to whatever heated argument they're having. "If I wanted a damn car, I'd have one too!"

Barry starts to laugh, but it's without humor and completely exasperated. "If things had gone differently tonight, Oliver... You both wouldn't be here in the hospital, you'd both be in my lab shipped in _body bags!_ "

Joe's hands curl into fists; he _knows_ the sound of Barry crying and that's it. Just before he has time to kick down the door and comfort his son, Iris' cautious hand stops him. He looks at her and despite seeing her own heart break for her brother transpiring on her face, she shakes her head at him, communicating the trio's need — _Barry's_ need — to get it all out.

"Barry—"

"Kara, you could have died! I told you to help me help him see that having that bike of his is nothing but dangerous and now look!"

"Barry—"

" _You had a steel bar through your chest_ , Oliver! By any means, you _should_ be dead! And Kara, you weren't _breathing!_ If you two were g-gone, I... I-I don't..."

Barry is sobbing now, just lightly and obviously trying to stop himself from crying.

"Barry... it's okay. _We're_ okay," Kara says soothingly, her voice low and hoarse.

"No. You're not. If you were, we'd be at home. Or out, on date night."

 _"Date night?"_ Joe and Iris mouth at each other, equally confused despite the urgency of the moment.

"I'll get rid of the bike," Oliver says simply.

"That doesn't change the fact that you're still hurt."

"No," Kara says, "but it does change the future."

"I'll get rid of the damn bike, okay?" He doesn't say it as harshly as he had originally.

"Okay..." Barry says, resigned tone. "God, I wouldn't know what to do without you two. I love you."

"We love you, too, Barry," Kara says gently. "Come here."

Joe isn't given any time to react when Iris burst through the door and points an accusatory finger at her brother, "You've been dating these two this whole time and you didn't tell _me?!_ I was about to stab him when Dad and I thought— When we saw—" She groans and throws her hands up. "Never mind!"

Barry, bewildered beyond his comprehension, has his hands up and mouth agape. He shakes his head to compose himself and puts his hands down.

"You saw me and Kara kiss," Oliver concludes, sharing a knowing look with Kara while Barry adopts an expression that halfway looks like he understands yet is still terribly confused.

Joe decides to take it from there and says, "Well, that and..." He looks pointedly at his finger.

"Oh this?" Kara says as she raises her left hand to show off her ring. "We aren't married. They're promise rings. Barry has one too but he prefers to wear it around his neck instead. He _claims_ his ring gets in the way of his work."

"It does!" Barry defends.

There's a palpable silence in the room then that isn't too uncomfortable, just a little awkward.

Joe breaks the tension with a soft chuckle. "And here I thought Kara kept breaking her computer as an excuse to talk to you, Barry."

Barry laughs along with him and so does Iris as Kara's cheeks are a shade of pink; Oliver smiles good-naturedly at her.

"Nope. That's all her," Oliver confirms with a sly smirk. "She's just that bad with technology."

"Oh yeah?" She says without any real heat. "Says the detective who still somehow manages to get hurt on the job all the time."

Iris lightly slaps her palm to her face. "Oh my god, I thought you were intentionally getting hurt just to see Barry."

"Are you kidding me? He's the worst at stitching! No offense, honey."

"I keep telling you to go to _Caitlin!_ She stitches up _actual_ people! I stitch up dead bodies!"

"Well, I choose not to go to her."

"Then you're stuck with me and my horrible stitching."

In lieu of a verbal reply, Oliver responds with a look that Joe can only describe as complete adoration and Joe is hit with this realization that that dopey look is for none other than his son. He'd never thought he'd see the day Oliver Queen's face can look like that.

This just completely complicates his job further, with the assistant forensic scientist being his son and the injured man on the hospital bed being his partner and both of them being in a relationship with each other and his daughter's coworker.

God, his life can't catch a break.

He tips his head at Kara and says, "You, get better." He looks pointedly at Oliver and says, "You and I are gonna have a talk later on this week," and he's satisfied at Oliver's face slightly dipping into nervousness. "And you," he pulls his son into an embrace, patting him twice on the back, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Just a second after they close the door, Oliver pipes up, "I'm a dead man, aren't I?"

* * *

The next morning, Wally, bug-eyed and cereal-filled spoon just inches short of reaching his mouth, stares at his dad and sister. "Wait, you didn't know?"

* * *

 _AN: Thank you for reading. Feel free to leave a comment; they mean the world to me._


End file.
